HISTORY OF HARAS DE MANDORE

MAJOR BLOODLINES
THE PUREBRED ARABIAN

The origins of Haras de Mandore, a Purebred Arabian and Thoroughbred stud, date that was the year the cousin of the mother of Jean-Marc de Watrigant, Viscount of Abbadie de Barrau, gained two Purebred Arabians. He was the ambassador in Syria and the Haras Nationaux had imported two mares to France. They thought of him and that is where the story of the breeding operation started.

We needed to be well located as there were not all the means of transport that we have nowadays and matings were made by travelling long distances” explained Jean-Marc de Watrigant. The years passed, the breeding operation originally based in the Gers moved to Mont-de-Marsan to a stud that “I constructed with François Boutin, among others" explained Jean-Marc de Watrigant. "My father was a judge and a passionate breeder, I made my career in taking over the horses of my father and I know that the future is safe in the next generation’s hands. " But in the beginning, the horses of his father were not raised to race. They were pets so to speak. Jean-Marc de Watrigant is marked by the long history of his family with Arab horses and he continued “On returning from the war, my uncle, Jean de Watrigant, wanted a nice horse to ride on hacks! My father gave him a good looking horse but my uncle could not ride him. He then gave the horse to Georges Pelat to get rid of it and it went on to win at Auteuil! My father then realised that his horses could go very fast and it was only in the 1950s that his homebreds went into training.

THE HISTORY OF THE STUD
MANDORE BEGINS

In 1976, Haras de Mandore was born. Jean-Marc de Watrigant bred his Arabian horses and major trainers also sent him racehorses that needed a break. "They came to spend the winter at my stud, it was like a holiday camp”, he joked. Today, Haras de Mandore sits on 140 hectares of paddocks and is home to around 50 horses. Then there is also the Domaine d'Artassenx where my son, Damien, trains his horses. He has a string of 50 horses. We have all the necessary gallops: sand, grass… described Jean-Marc de Watrigant. The sites are looked after by around 20 employees. " Skilled employees at that as Purebred Arabians are clever horses. Jean-Marc de Watrigant breeds Purebred Arabians and Thoroughbreds. He is well placed to compare the two: "Thoroughbreds have been conditioned by humans whereas Purebred Arabians are closer to nature. But you know, the Thoroughbred descends from the Arab." The families of his breeding operation descend from the most influential stallion of the Arabian world: Manganate.